E-cigs still OK in San Jose

San Jose officials aren’t yet ready to join the list of communities banning e-cigarettes in public places.

A City Council subcommittee on Wednesday deadlocked on a proposal from Councilwoman Rose Herrera to regulate vaping in the same way as traditional tobacco products, which are already prohibited in places such as restaurants and bars.

With the 2-2 vote Wednesday, the proposal is at a standstill, but officials will spend more time looking at the idea and may vote again in the coming weeks. Still, council members said they’d only be interested in putting the proposal into the hopper of long-term ideas, not immediately passing the plan.

Councilmen Pierluigi Oliverio and Pete Constant were against the idea, saying there was little proof vaping caused second-hand harm and that the city had better things to spend its time on. But Mayor Chuck Reed and Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen were open to looking further at it.

San Francisco and the unincorporated regions of Santa Clara County are among the areas already moving forward with similar regulations.

Herrera, one of five major candidates for mayor on the June 3 ballot, said San Jose Sharks fans have complained to her that people smoked e-cigarettes at games at the SAP Center.

“We need to do whatever we can to take some action on this,” Herrera said. “It really is a serious threat to the community.”